cover image 4
February 24, 2015

Advancing Public Policies for People with Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency or Developmental Disabilities   

Connect With Us:
Like us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   View our profile on LinkedIn
Betsy Gorman, Editor
bg@clmhd.org
Webinars & Resources:

Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Feb. 26 1:30-2:30 here

March 24th 10:00-12:00
OMH is hosting an informal meeting for all Directors of Community Services to highlight activities and initiatives that hte Children's Division of Integrated Community services has undertaken for teh past two years to prepare Family Peer Support Providers for the transition to Medicaid Managed Care.   
Join the online meeting here

NYSOMH- New Webpage:

Promoting Positive Therapeutic Environments to Prevent Restraint and Seclusion here 

 

AATOD's Nat'l Conference, Addressing a Public Health Crisis: Opioid Dependence held in Atlanta from March 28-April 1, 2015.  Link here

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
March:

Children & Families  
Tues. 3/10 11:30-1:00 
GTM

Officers & Chairs  
Wed. 3/11 8:00-9:00 
Call in Only

Mental Hygiene Planning 
Tu 3/12 11:00-2:00 
Location TBD Albany

CLMHD/OASAS Upstate Field Offices Meeting 
Wed 3/25 10:20-2:30 
607 E. Molloy Rd. Syracuse

CLMHD Director's Meeting
In Person 
Tues. 3/31 
10:30-Noon  
Executive Committee
In Person 
12:30-2:00 
Both: 41 State Street Albany 
 
Contact CLMHD for all call in information, 518.462.9422
Governor Cuomo Announces Next Phase of Statewide Combat Heroin & Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness  

 

Messages Posted on Highways, Mass Transit and Shopping Malls; Online and Television PSAs to Air Statewide

The messaging warns that alcohol overuse and abuse of prescription opioid medications are often a gateway to heroin use, and refers those who need help to New York State's 24-hour addiction HOPEline.

"Our efforts to fight heroin and prescription drug abuse are raising awareness and helping to save lives in communities across New York," Governor Cuomo said. "Heroin addiction can often start with other forms of drug use - and with this next phase of the Combat Heroin campaign, we are working to break this cycle of abuse before it starts."

The Combat Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse campaign is launching online advertisements that will appear on social media and select websites, and includes commercials underscoring the message, "addiction can happen to anyone, at any time - however, there is help available" to run on network and cable television stations. The videos used in online and broadcast commercials can be viewed here
Q&A with Jason Helgerson on Health and Hospitals 

 

Q:What are some of the challenges that the state faces while implementing reforms with the $8 billion federal Medicaid waiver?

JH: The biggest challenge is what we're asking providers to do to come together in large groupings, sort of across the entire continuum of healthcare-hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home care providers and specialty providers in behavioral health developed for those who are
developmentally disabled. You name it, we're asking all of these providers to come together and work as a team. Throughout the history of healthcare in New York and across the country, providers have functioned in silos and, in many cases, have seen each other as competitors even though in a lot cases they see the same patients. They can keep the revenue, they can keep their patients and what we're asking them to do now with [the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program] is to work together and be held collectively accountable for improving health outcomes for Medicaid members and that is not easy.  Read more.

 

Twenty of Rikers Island's most violent inmates will be moved to a new Enhanced Supervision Housing unit on Monday as part of the city's ongoing effort to overhaul the troubled facility.

The unit, housed within the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, has been upgraded in the past three months to accommodate a new housing method, which Department of Correction commissioner Joseph Ponte hopes will help reduce violence at the jail.

 

The housing block formerly housed general population inmates, and has a 50-bed capacity. It will be manned by four officers around the clock, and 31 new officers have signed up to work in the new unit.

Read more.    

 

 Related: Even as Many Eyes Watch, Brutality at Rikers Island Persists   

 

 

NYSHealth Hosts "A Conversation About Mass Incarceration and Public Health: From Punishment to Treatment?"

 

On February 11, 2015, the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) hosted a conversation about mass incarceration and public health to discuss expanding health and social services for individuals involved with the criminal justice system.  Read more here. 

Independent Living Centers Fight For More Funding

 

A state funded program that helps people with disabilities says it's in desperate need of something the state hasn't given it in over a decade, an increase in funding.  

 

Independent Living Centers across New York State have gotten by for some time on flat funding, but say they can't keep doing it.

 

When Bob Smith and Steve Washer sat down with State Assemblywoman Addie Russell, it gave them a chance to explain how the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living, NRCIL, helped save their lives.

"I stay out of trouble," Washer said. "Other people I know and talked to have stayed out of trouble with NRCIL helping them when they've been down in the dumps and stuff like that.  It's been a wonderful thing."  Read more.
The Conference of Local Mental Hygiene Directors advances public policies and awareness for people with mental illness, chemical dependency and developmental disabilities.  We are a statewide membership organization that consists of the Commissioner/ Director of each of the state's 57 county mental hygiene departments and the mental hygiene department of the City of New York.

Affiliated